French minister calls on protesters to observe ban

PARIS - France's interior minister has called on organizers of a banned pro-Gaza protest to observe the order, fearing anti-Semitic violence.

Bernard Cazeneuve made his public appeal shortly before Saturday's demonstration in Paris was to start. Hours earlier, the Council of State, France's top administrative body, ruled the protest ban was legal.

A court had ruled likewise, but organizers said they still planned to hold the protest.